297M: In a fever dream she dances with snowmen

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I’m looking for a children’s book I read as a child.

There’s a dark-haired little girl (maybe a Sarah, but I’m not sure) who goes outside to play in the snow (I think they build a snowman), but doesn’t put on her coat/mittens/hat/etc.  When she comes back in, she gets sick.  I think they give her a bath but it doesn’t work and she’s basically bedridden for most of winter.  At some point she has a fever dream where she’s dancing with snowmen in some sort of winter world.  When she wakes up, it’s springtime and I think she goes to a grandparent’s house, where the trees are in bloom, and the white blooms look like the winter world and she runs happily through them since she’s been cooped up for so long.

Beautiful illustrations.  Would love to look for a copy for my daughter.  Thanks in advance!

 

297L: Cuttyhunk Island

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The book that I am trying to find was purchased via scholastic books (or similar) in the 1978-1979

school year. Probably Spring ’79.  It was young adult fiction and either the back cover or the description said “Rites of Passage” (then something about learning to drive,graduating,etc.)

The book began with the heroine and her family cleaning out a beloved family cabin or cottage. Her grandmother had just died and she was having trouble dealing with it. A female cousin shows up and they don’t really like each other. Later in the book they become close.The cousin has become cool by sewing shift dresses for classmates. The dresses are unique because she added a pop art twist to

each dress. The cousin would appliqué a hamburger up by a shoulder or a little snake at the waist.

The heroine is dating / deciding between two boys. One is a freshman at MIT / ridiculously smart. One of them gives her a rock from Cuttyhunk Island. I had never heard of this Island and was taken with the idea that it could produce perfectly round rocks because of tides and gravity,etc. For a work of fiction,it explained it pretty well.

The heroine keeps the rock as a talisman ( learned that word from the book ) and at the end of the book throws it into the sea because she doesn’t need it any longer.

That is all that I remember. Thank you for your help.

297K: Very Afraid Little Blue Monster

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I’m looking for a book from my childhood (born in 1977).  The main character was a little blue monster, and if I remember right, he was very afraid of just about everything, and was quite little compared to the other monsters of his kind. I think the book ends with him feeling safe after finding his monster mommy. This illustrated children’s book’s main character is dark blue, with a large head vaguely shaped like a devil, or maybe a tear drop (wider at bottom, narrow at top, perhaps with two ear-like horns?). He might have had a tail, and his body may have been “textured” with some black lines, and typically was depicted with an open mouth (indicating fear).  I vaguely recall that most of the book was devoid of color in the illustrations, save for the slightly panicked looking monster. My hazy memory makes me think that the book was published sometime after 1960, likely in the 70s, and certainly before 1983 or 1984. I think we had a hardcover of it growing up.

297J: A boy in a fully automated house (Solved)

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Hello! I have been trying to find a children’s picture book from probably the 1970s or possibly 1960s. It was about a boy who lived in a house that was fully automated. (No parents are in the story, I don’t think. ) A machine would wake him up in the morning, put him in the shower, dry him off, put his clothes on, make him breakfast, sit him down to eat, and send him off to school. It was not a robot, more like he was moved through a conveyor belt of morning routine activities. They boy seemed to sleep through everything. One night, the machine goes on the fritz, and he is sent through the morning activities in the wrong order. The machine is all messed up – he gets his hair washed with breakfast, clothes put on upside-down, etc. Hope you can help!

297I: Grosset and Dunlap Children’s Anthology from the late 1940’s or early 1950’s

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I’ve looked all over NYC for my favourite children’s book to no avail. It contained stories with elves as well as several more modern city stories. It had black and white illustrations , probably pen and ink. The book was in memory slightly  smaller than 8 ½ by 11 in two dimensions and over an inch thick. It had a pearl grey hard cover that was pretty shiny in the 1950’s. That’s all I remember and it’s not much to go on, but I’d love to find a copy.

 

297H: A boy who turns into a wolf

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I remember having this book as a child, it was a picture book about a boy who turns into a wolf and becomes part of the pack for a season. At one point the pack travels close to his old home, and when he sees his family he remembers them and turns back into a human. I can’t for the life of me remember the title or the author, and at this point.  I’m pretty desperate for any information. Thank you!

297F: Poor Susie Cruthers

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I had cousins that used to read to me from a book during the years 1942-1945 that began something like:

Poor Susie Cruthers

Had no sisters

Had no brothers…

I don’t remember the rest but it went on to say things she liked to do.

Thank you for you willingness to search for the treasures of childhood.

 

297E: Martha with matching initials

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This is a children’s book from the 1960’s, about a little girl, whose name I believe was Martha, who had matching initials (her last name also began with M).  Because she had matching initials, she was able to go on amazing adventures with such characters as Timmy Turtle and Willie Whale, all around the world.

297D: Everything is going to be okay (Solved)

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I’m trying to find a book, it’s about a boy who’s parents are separated. He writes a letter pretending to be his mother, and sends it to his father. The letter is asking for forgiveness and for the father to come back to live with them. The boys attempt to get his parents back together fails. In the last part of the book, the boy is in the movie theater with the girl he likes and she asks him, “is everything ok?” And he replies, “yes, everything is going to be ok”. (This is everything I remember.) Also the name of the book might be something like “shy guy” or “guy shy” or just something with guy in it. I hardly remember anything about it.

 

Thanks!